BANGLADESH

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will initiate legal action if Grameenphone does not clear Tk 30.34 billion dues within 21 days.

BTRC chairman Zia Ahmed issued the warning while briefing journalists in his office on Tuesday.

"However, Grameenphone can discuss with us and can visit our office for clarification if they have any doubts or questions about the dues. If they ask for more time, we will consider it," he said.

Stating that the leading telecom operator failed to furnish many information during the audit, the regulatory body chief said, "The company suppressed many information during the audit. We found more than 10 million subscribers about whom Grameenphone did not inform us earlier."

He added if the company had given correct information, the government would have got more taxes.

When asked whether the BTRC would file any case against the telecom company for concealing information, Ahmed said, "We will decide on this issue after holding talks within the Commission."

Currently, audit of another telecom operator Banglalink was going on, he informed.

"Audit in Grameenphone was carried out transparently and the entire process has been documented," he said and ruled out the possibility of dumping the outcome.

He said the revenue from sector had increased since the audits started and that two more auditors would be appointed soon to look into records of two other companies.

Ahmed added that the audits were BTRC's own initiatives and it had no connection with the telecommunications ministry.

A BTRC letter on Monday asked Grameenphone to clear dues — Tk 21.46 billion of BTRC fees and Tk 8.87-billion revenue due to the National Board of Revenues (NBR). It also asked the company to clear the fees within 21 days of receipt of the notice and the dues to the NBR in 'due time'.

However, the telecom operator's chief communications officer Kazi Monirul Kabir told, ""It's not that we have been asked to pay a penalty."

"There are a lot of financial transactions between BTRC and mobile operators including sharing revenues from international outgoing calls. The letter deals with those issues and seeks to clarify some points," he added.

"The telecom sector has a lot of technical issues. The audit firm may not have understood many of them," Kabir said and added that Grameenphone will respond to the BTRC letter in a few days.